Germany 'gift' Bayern opening win

MUNICH, Germany -- Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich enjoyed a successful debut at their new 340 million euro Allianz Arena with a 4-2 friendly win over depleted Germany on Tuesday.

Double winners Bayern vacated the Olympic Stadium at the end of the season and a capacity 66,000 crowd packed into their new home to watch Bayern kickstart a new era.

"We gave Bayern a nice opening gift," said national coach Juergen Klinsmann. "We never like losing but will not lose sleep over this defeat."

Sebastian Deisler, one of five German internationals in the Bayern starting line-up, had the honor of scoring Bayern's first goal at the venue with just five minutes gone.

An own goal from Chelsea defender Robert Huth (36 minutes) and further goals from Willy Sagnol (74) and Hasan Salihamidzic (87) guided Bayern to a comfortable victory.

Tim Borowski scored a 51st minute penalty for Germany but even Miroslav Klose's 86th minute effort was not enough to paper over a poor display from Klinsmann's side.

In truth the result was always secondary with the microscope on the stadium, nicknamed the 'Schlauchboot' (rubber dinghy) because of its design, and the atmosphere left its mark on Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer.

"It is the first time the stadium has had 66,000 fans inside and the atmosphere was incredible," said Beckenbauer. "I have seen almost all stadia in the world but this is the best. But I guess it is a matter of taste."

Hosts Germany will open the 2006 World Cup at the Allianz Arena on June 9 2006 and Klinsmann will hope for a better result than the one against Bayern.